I have a Boomerang XL II with a Rhino engine. Everything is installed NEW with about 12 flights on it. The TX is a JR 10X/R2100rx with a Smart Fly system installed, two 3600 mAh NiMH batteries for the RX and one 5600 mAh Li-Ion battery for the pump etc. I also run a 5600 mAh Li-Ion battery for the smoke system.

Today, twice, while doing the ground run ups on the ground the jet locked up completely and nothing would move. The throttle was even stuck. I thought I was going to have to take the canopy off and manually shut the engine down, when control came back. Failsafe did not initiate - just a complet lockup. The first time it happened I had to turn the TX and RX on and off again to get it running again. The green "ready" light wouldn't even come on after moving the throttle trim switch to center. After awhile we decided to move the antenna away from the turbine and after we did that it seemed to work fine. I have some of that metal heat tape covering the inside of the fuse and the antenna was between that and the turbine. At any rate, after moving the antenna it seemed to do fine. After 10 min. of manipulating the controls on the ground without any trouble and making sure the failsafe worked, I decided to go ahead and send it up. I had two successful flights before we ran out of light.

My question is...how can the radio have complete lockout without it going into failsafe? We tested the failsafe by turning off the TX and it works flawlessly that way. Is there something wrong with the Smart Fly? I'm completely baffled here and your help would be appreciated if you can offer it.

Thanks,
Andy

This sounds very similar to a thread discussion elsewhere.
It seems that under certain circumstances the JR can just 'freeze' without proper failsafe engaging.
I am no expert on JR, I just remember the discussion.

I will see if I can find it and paste a link.

Paul

found it

[link]http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_5893894/mpage_1/key_failsafe/tm.htm[/link]

Andy,
While at Winamac this weekend the Kramers had the same type problem. You two should compare notes. By the way they were flying Futaba gear.

My question is what is a "Smart Fly" system?

Here you go John:

http://smart-fly.com/

Smart-Fly is a company that makes power redundancy systems. Batt share and PowerExpander are a couple of products they make. I used the Powerexpander Pro in my Tam's A-4 and it seemed to work just fine. Dual batteries and Futaba Gear. 9CAP is the radio.

I'm starting to think that it is the Smart Fly system that is causing this. If the RX loses immediate power then everything will lock up and failsafe will not initiate right? It can't go into failsafe with without power.

I'm yanking it and sending it back to Smart Fly. They said they would send another but I will probably ask for my money back.

Andy

I would take it out and test the system. Possibility it is just a bad aprt, or maybe some type of compatability issue. Never used one of thsoe systems, always just used good batteries and harnesses, never had a problem myself. I try to keep my power systems simple and strong enough to do the job. Too many electrical components can lead to possible failures. Less is routinely better are my thoguhts in the electronics world. Redundancy is only good if the system is performing to specifications.

Sounds like the smart fly system may not be so good... remember keep it simple! Wiring, plugs, switches, batteries are the things that go bad most of the time. The more gadgets the higher probability of building in problems.
Lee

We can't have it both ways...
-Powerful, high number of digital servos requires strong current capability
-Some receivers will reboot if voltage goes to low.
-Long leads can work as antenna and pickup RFI interference

Generally Powerbox/Smart-Fly, etc redundant systems will improve the changes of success.

I had a JR 770 pcm rx that did the same thing. I would cycle the switch and it would come back on. I swapped batteries and switches and it still happened.

If you can repeat this issue with a voltmeter plugged into the receiver you can see if power is lost to the receiver.

Most PCM receivers have low voltage fail-safe, I thought most if not all; JR PCM receivers had the low voltage fail-safe feature. Shoot my old (over 20 years old) JR Century VII PCM transmitters and receivers had R/F fail-safe & low voltage fail-safe feature. A low voltage condition causes the receiver to move the throttle position to a percentage slightly higher than full low throttle. All other channels still will operate normally. When you cycle the throttle stick on the transmitter, the throttle channel then works normally for a short time. Again and again this will happen until other channels servos slow down.

A sharp spike in low voltage might cause a lockup condition for a short moment, i.e. called a Brown out... but I have found that condition is very hard to repeat on the bench.. The low voltage throttle fail-safe is very easy to repeat time and time again.
Lee H. DeMary
AMA 36099

Well, I tried to get it to do it again today. No luck. With the turbine running I turned off the RX switches and the turbine shut down. I also tried unplugging the battery leads from the Smart fly to the battery switches to see if that made a difference. Same thing turbine shut down.

Basically, I couldn't replicate the problem today.

frustrating...

My Futaba PCM equipment has Battery failsafe, my JR 10x does not.

If there was a JR battery failsafe you would be able to set the failsafe point.